European marine protected species

European marine protected species are those listed on Annex
IV of the Habitats Directive whose natural range includes
any area in Great Britain. In UK waters, these consist of several
species of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), turtles and
the Atlantic Sturgeon.

Monitoring of European marine protected species

The Habitats Directive contains measures requiring European
Member States to: monitor the conservation status of species listed
on the Habitats Directive; ensure measures are in place to prevent
capture, killing or disturbance; and to monitor by-catch. The UK’s
response to these measures are discussed in turn:

Monitoring conservation status

A UK cetacean surveillance
and monitoring programme has been initiated and 2007 saw the
completion of the first Favourable Conservation Status reports
under the Habitats Directive. The programme collates data for all
cetacean strandings around the UK coast, determines the cause of
death and surveys the incidence of disease.

To enable the results of this surveillance to be used in future
assessments of the conservation status of cetaceans, a web-based
portal for effort-related sightings data – the Joint Cetacean
Protocol – is being developed by JNCC and partners. This will
enable our knowledge of the distribution and relative abundance of
cetaceans to remain current.

Deliberate capture, killing or incidental
disturbance/injury

It is an offence to kill, injure, capture or disturb
European Protected Species. Good practice guidelines and
protocols have been produced for marine industries on how to assess
the likelihood of committing an offence to such species, how to
avoid it and whether a licence to carry out activity might be
required or not. This has resulted in the production of several
sets of detailed guidelines covering seismic surveys,
pile
driving operations and the use of explosives. It is
considered that adherence to these guidelines constitutes best
practice and will minimise the risk of committing an injury
offence.

Monitoring of by-catch

EU
Regulation 812/2004 was implemented in 2005 under the
requirements of Article 12 of the Habitats Directive. The
regulation requires cetacean observers on-board commercial fishing
vessels to minimise cetacean by-catch from fisheries. See Defra’s
bycatch
reports.